California will require mask-wearing in public indoor settings effective Wednesday until Jan. 15 amid a seasonal uptick in COVID-19 cases, Calif. Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly told reporters Monday.
When asked if this action is a precursor to once again limiting businesses’ indoor occupancy, Ghaly said, “There’s no consideration on those sorts of steps at the moment.”
“I just want to say that we know people are tired and hungry for normalcy. Frankly, I am too, that being said, this is a critical time where we have a tool that we know has worked and can work,” Ghaly said.
Starting Wednesday, state officials will also require those attending events with more than 1000 attendees who don’t show proof of vaccination must show a negative COVID-19 test taken within one day if it’s an antigen test or two days if it’s a PCR test.
“It seems appropriate given the knowledge that people can change their status and be infected or not with more transmissible variants of the virus circulating,” Ghaly said.
This story is developing and will be updated as necessary.
